Human Skull Sketch: Learn Anatomy for Accurate Portraits

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Continuing last week's extension of the skull structure.
I often wonder where to start when I'm sketching a portrait.
Wanting to know the shape of the shadow and the hidden structure behind it, I started to organize information about the structure and muscles of the portrait.
If you have the same confusion, or are interested in understanding the skull, read on!

● Why is it important to know the structure of the skull?

The skull is the skeletal foundation of the human head, and understanding the structure of the skull can help us to.

  • 1. Recognize the shape and position of the five senses.
  • 2. Grasp the logic of the beginning of the undulation of the face and the distribution of light and shadow.

● Major subdivisions and functions of the skull

1. Frontal bone (forehead) (pinkish blue)

It is located on the forehead and supports the forehead and the upper part of the eye socket.
Observe the relationship between the frontal bone and the eye sockets, especially the curvature of the frontal bone.

2. zygomatic bone (orange):

It is located on both sides of the face, forming the cheeks and connecting the frontal bone to the maxillary bone.
Notice how the cheekbone changes shape and position in the frontal and lateral contours.

3. Maxilla (blue-green):

Supports the upper teeth and the bottom of the nasal cavity.

4. Nasal bone (deep blue color):

A small, narrow bone that sits at the bridge of the nose.

5. Mandible (purple):

The movable part of the skull that forms the shape of the jaw and the chewing function.

Different angles of the jaw, using structural lines to create shapes.

● Right side view:

1. Craniofacial bones (yellow):

The top and sides of the head protect the sides and upper part of the brain.

2. Occipital bone (blue):

It is located at the back of the head and protects the back of the brain. Note the relationship between the position of the occipital bone and the mandible.

3. Temporal bone (green):

Located above the ear, it contains the hearing-related bony part (external auditory canal).

How do I draw a skull?

Skull Proportions and Contour Benchmarking (two images above left: front view and side view)

Objectives: Establishing Basic Skull Proportion Awareness and Perspective Sense

  • The common proportions of the front skull:Between 1:1.5 - 1.7 (width to height)
The head shape with a lot of transitions and simplifications
  • Lateral view, emphasizing the overlapping relationship of the forehead, craniofacial region and mandible.
  • Exercise: Use a box or an ovoid as the outer contour of the skull and divide the skull with a center line (helps to see the shape structure, bone points)

Simplifying skulls into geometric forms

  • Base shape decomposition:
  • 1. Cranium: A sphere (the skull is actually similar to an ellipse when viewed from the side) serves as the foundation for the top of the head.
  • 2. Mandible: resembles a square with a trapezoidal structure, attached to the underside of the sphere.

The lower edge is slightly prominent (the upper edge of the cheekbone) and the upper edge connects to the frontal bone.

eye socket(orbital)

1. In terms of light and shadow, the eye socket is one of the deepest dark areas.

2. It shows irregular depressions on all sides, which are located approximately above the midline of the skull.

3. as one of the benchmarks for the positioning of the five senses.The line between the two eyes is about the width of one eye。

The following illustration is a simplified method of skull, from round, rectangular several simple similar shapes, each part as a part of the assembly, pay attention to the characteristics of the parts parts.


●Simplification of skull geometry

It is easy to get caught up in realistic details when painting skulls. It is recommended to break down the skull into geometrical blocks to grasp the volume, light and shadow.
In the lower panels, the skull is broken down into straight lines and surfaces, which helps to clearly represent the transitions and the intersections of light and dark.

The position of the black point is at the point of the area transition, these points are related to the shape of the painting, light and dark changes.
This one simplifies the skull into a square. The square shape helps us to skip the small transitions and find the big pieces.


● Facial structure tilt and turn

The light creates shadows according to the turn of the forehead.
Our forehead can be simplified and understood as three different sides, divided into 1 frontal and 2 lateral.

The structural points of the face from the center of the brow to the root of the mountain change very subtly.
You can gradually add lines to mark ups and downs and shadows.
You can compare the simplified surface structure above, and note whether the structure points are aligned or not.
If you want to deepen the layers, you can smudge the lines and observe where the bones turn.

Multi-angle skull and steering structure

In addition to the basic front and side view angles, the turning angle helps us to train the spatial sense of the object and the stability of the five senses.
The following image demonstrates the drawing of skull structure from multiple angles, recognizing the changes of zygomatic arch, orbital depression, and mandibular turn in space from different directions.

The skull is presented at different angles

Observe the area of each part of the turn, in drawing the shape of the object should pay attention to the relationship between the front and back, affecting the line before and after the strength of the change
Looking at the angle from below, you can see where the zygomatic arch connects to the face.

How is the skull shadow expressed?

After understanding the skull turn structure mentioned above, let's try to bring what we have learned into the skull shadow.

Transitions are where shadows are created, so we use the direction of the brushstrokes to arrange the grayscale.

After roughing up the gray scale on the previous sheet, use a pen and paper or toilet paper (blotting tool) to soften the excessive strokes in.

Spend your energy on key areas and continue to refine your strokes and layers through observation.


These are the knowledge points about the skull area, do you have any problems or other troubles in drawing portraits?
Please feel free to share any information that you may have missed or want to ask.

If you want to learn to draw, but don't know how to start, or are interested in understanding what drawing is all about.

Welcome to join line Contact meIn my classroom, I organize the way I learn to draw in a clear and organized way.

Click here to learn more about the Painting Program


For more articles on Extended Drawing Methods.

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How to accurately grasp the proportions of the hand and sketch the structure of the joints.

How to Draw Ears:Simplified Ear Structure and Shading Tips

How to Use Two-Tone Shading: Simple Shadow Techniques

Facial Muscle Structure Analysis: Enhancing the Stereoscopic Sense of Figure Sketching

How to Draw Japanese Masks: Practical Techniques for Simplifying Shape and Proportional Perspective

From Simple Contours to Detail: Mastering the Sketching of Eyes

Capturing Realism in Lip Drawing: Key Structures and Shading

Portrait Sketching Tips: Three Keys to Understanding Head Structure

Mastering the basic proportions and structure of portrait drawing

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  • Watercolor Related Topics

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